Jim Dawson and Wayne Flottman have been on the front lines of gay civil rights activism for most of their 48-year relationship.

They founded a pioneering gay rights organization in Kansas City in the early 1960s. They have marched on Washington every year since the first gay and lesbian political rally in 1979. In 1990, they helped start a local gay community group, the South Bay Center. And, in 1999, they were among the first same-sex couples to be registered as domestic partners in California.

Now, the couple, who have lived in Torrance for more than 20 years, are about to make up for a major milestone that they missed.

They’ve forever regretted that they didn’t go to San Francisco to be married during the monthlong period four years ago when the city issued same-sex marriage licenses.

“We were so sorry we didn’t do it,” said Dawson, 72, sitting in the couple’s living room Friday. “We don’t want to take any chances missing out on a historic thing again.”

They’ll be at the West Hollywood Park and Auditorium this week, waiting among hundreds of other couples for their state-sanctioned nuptials.

Beginning Tuesday morning, just over a month after a state Supreme Court decision overturned a ban on gay marriage, county clerks across California are set to begin issuing marriage licenses and performing civil ceremonies for same-sex couples.

In Los Angeles County, officials have put up a huge tent to accommodate crowds expected outside the main Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office in Norwalk. They’re using the same setup – with a dozen deputies available to perform civil ceremonies – that is employed on Valentine’s Day, when the offices overflow with nervous soon-to-be newlyweds.

“We’re planning for an onslaught,” said Paul Drugan, a spokesman for the clerk’s office.

More than 75 people were authorized by the county in recent days to perform civil wedding ceremonies, Drugan said. In a typical week, he said, the county deputizes about 20 volunteers who preside over the weddings of friends or relatives. They will be able to perform ceremonies for two weeks.

Hours have been expanded at the clerk’s offices, and the county is having a 12-hour “wedding event” on Saturday in Norwalk.

Under the guidance of a newly formed LGBT advisory group, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan has ordered extra security guards at all satellite offices, including the LAX Courthouse office, Drugan said.

The county also has issued an advisory to notaries public that authorization to conduct marriage licensing will be revoked for those who fail to offer their services to same-sex couples.

For Dawson and Flottman, who have been the subject of a previous profile in the Daily Breeze, their excitement over the upcoming wedding is tempered by almost 50 years together, and by wariness of future battles over gay marriage – at the ballot box and in other states.

But still, the two said, “marriage equality” is a landmark in their history of activism.

“I am absolutely flabbergasted at the change,” Dawson said. “We are so far from where we were in Kansas City in 1960, it’s hard to imagine.”

Their wedding, they said, would be a low-key affair with just the two of them and a witness.

Other same-sex couples are planning for a more traditional, walk-down-the-aisle event. Local businesses are prepared to reap the benefits of what is expected to be a significant uptick in marriage-related economic activity.

Earlier this month, a UCLA study predicted state and local government will see $63.8 million in revenue from an expected 51,000 same-sex marriages over the next three years. The study predicted that, in the same period, same-sex weddings will bring in more than $680 million to California businesses.

Count Brad Gagne and Donald Lara among the big spenders.

They are preparing for 200 guests at an elaborate ceremony to be held Saturday, followed by a reception with tapas stations and sparkling wine. The next day, they’ll embark on a weeklong honeymoon cruise on the Mexican Riviera.

They began planning the wedding over a year ago – knowing that the court ruling might come down before their wedding at First Congregational Church in Long Beach, which has for several years had a policy of solemnizing unofficial same-sex weddings.

“This is all serendipity,” Gagne said of the timing.

The couple, both in their 40s, were encouraged by Lara’s co-workers at his Gardena office to marry in San Francisco in 2004. The office even threw a wedding shower for them, but they decided not to go north.

Then, Gagne said, he began to realize how important marriage was to him.

“It was all about the words. I didn’t want a commitment ceremony. I didn’t want civil union. I wanted to be married. I wanted a wedding,” he said.

Julie Nixon, owner of Cherished Vows Wedding Chapel in Torrance, is already reaping the benefits of such sentiments.

At the end of last week, she had six couples set for ceremonies on Tuesday – not typically a busy day.

“It’s so many e-mails, we tell them they have to call us. It’s really hard to keep up. The volume is too high,” Nixon said.

Two of her customers are driving from Crestline, high in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Kim Wagner and partner Kathy Dart are getting married just two days before they move from their mountain home to Florida, where their California marriage will not be recognized.

“We’ll probably never have this opportunity again,” Wagner said. “But we’ll still have this nice certificate.”

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